Previous
Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Walk Two Moons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Judgment, Perspective, and Storytelling
Parents, Children, and Growing Up
Grief
Nature
Summary
Analysis
Gram interrupts Sal’s story to say that she knew someone like “Peeby” once. Her name was Gloria, and Gloria lived “in the wildest, most pepped up world.” Gram and Gramps argue; Gloria tried to discourage Gram from marrying Gramps, supposedly because she liked Gramps too. Gramps scoffs and pulls into a rest stop. Sal desperately wants to keep going, but a quick rest seems pretty safe. Sal explains that two years ago, when her grandparents visited Washington, D.C., they stole the back tires off a senator’s car—something that’s fine in Bybanks but is worthy of arrest in Washington, D.C.
Gram suggests that plenty of people live like Phoebe does, making up outlandish stories to reinforce their viewpoints or desires. And as Sal tells her grandparents this story about Phoebe, Sal starts to get a story in return: that of her grandparents’ romance and early life together. Through this, the novel begins to hint that stories tend to be nested in one another—one has to chip away at one story (like Dad chipped away at the plaster wall) to get to another. Meanwhile, Sal clearly doesn’t trust her grandparents to stay out of trouble, which fits with her more general distrust of the adults in her life. She’s especially anxious about not reaching Momma in time, though it’s still not clear why she feels so rushed.
Themes
A stop at a rest area seems safe in comparison to stealing tires in D.C. But then, Gramps notices a woman poking at her engine. Gallantly, Gramps goes to help the woman. He pulls the “snakes” (hoses) out of her engine, one by one, until all the hoses are on the ground and the “car-bust-erator” is in pieces. The woman calls a mechanic, and once Gramps is certain the mechanic is going to repair the car, he heads back to his own car. As he pulls back onto the freeway, Gram asks Sal to continue her story about Phoebe.
Gramps wants to help, but he only makes the woman’s car troubles worse by disassembling her engine—and he seems blissfully unaware that he’s not being helpful. This suggests that people sometimes don’t see themselves clearly—they can think of themselves in one way, but other people will see them in a totally different light. In this way, this passage calls back to Sal and Phoebe’s assumptions about other characters, which likely differ from how those people see themselves.
Themes
